Actress Geena Davis flirts with future political roles

Davis was interviewed Wednesday night by Rep.Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., at a special event at the Motion Picture Association of America. Seeing that this was Washington, and the White House was only two blocks away, the conversation immediately turned to Davis' role on the canceled television show "Commander in Chief."

"Well, having played a fictitious president, I feel like I could step into that role, so if you ever want to, write me in," Davis said to the Washington crowd. "But this is interesting, I had a very short administration, it was only one season, but..."

"One powerful season," DeLauro inserted.

"But there was a study done after the show was over, and it found that people who were familiar with the show were 68 percent more likely to vote for a female candidate for president," Davis noted. "So, just seeing me behind the desk, 18 times, was enough to massively transform people's thinking."

It's these kinds of optics that Davis focuses on through her Institute on Gender and the Media. The group reports staggering figures -- like the percentage of female characters in crowd scenes in family films is only 17 percent. "Really?" Davis said. "How do you leave out that many women?"

In looking at her own career, Davis said like many actresses in Hollywood, the roles started to dry up at age 40. "Literally I hit 4-0 and everything changed," she said, adding that she thought the rule wouldn't apply to her because she always played such interesting characters. "It's like falling off a cliff."

One person she said she'd still like to play is former first ladyEleanor Roosevelt. "I could look like her easily -- she's very tall," Davis said. "But the great thing is that she was famous her whole life, so I don't have to worry about time running out to play her."

Then DeLauro put her on the spot -- what about the role of actual congresswoman? Davis didn't say no. "Yeah, well, crazier things have happened," the actress laughed.